


Echoes

by AmberAngelle



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Paper Mario (Game)
Genre: Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7769659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberAngelle/pseuds/AmberAngelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been five months since “The Chaos Heart Incident”. Unlike Mario’s many adventures before, none have left quite the impact on him. He can’t help but reflect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Echoes

The Hero

It was dawn in the Mushroom Kingdom, and just like any other dawn, for the eldest Mario brother, the day began with the newspaper. 

Mario sat cozily in a wooden chair, flipping through the pages of The Daily Mushroom, the kingdom’s finest (and only) paper. A cup of slightly chilled coffee sat on the oak wood table in front of the Mushroom Kingdom's resident hero, the cup half empty. Mario flipped the page again, reading the pretty standard news. “Preparations begin for The Princess’s Ball” “New bakery opens in Toad Town” “The Toad Group celebrated for excellent community service.” These were the type of headlines featuring. 

It was good, Mario thought. No troubles, no Bowser, no kidnappings, no, for once peace reigned. But for Mario, ever since THAT incident, peace was also unsettling. Unnatural. Bowser had not caused an incident since they returned from THAT particular quest. Mario often wondered if the Koopa King had taken the whole event more gravely that he had ever let on. Mario certainly had. To the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom, the adventure that had taken place five months ago was just another of Mario’s heroic exploits. But they weren't there. They didn't see the terrified expressions of the Sammer Guys as their world was consumed. But Mario would have never wanted them to be. They didn't need to see… that.

Just then, Mario heard stirring from the room behind him. His brother was awake.  
If anyone had suffered from the incident, it was Luigi. Ever since, the younger Mario brother has suffered from nightmares, ones so terrifying that he could not find words to describe them to his older brother. Mario felt awful, about what happened and how he couldn't do anything to help his younger brother. It seemed however, last night he was spared from the night terrors as he woke normally this morning rather than waking up screaming and sweating in the middle of the night.

“Morin’ bro.” Luigi greeted, grabbing a piece of bread from the bag on the counter and popping it into the toaster. Mario gave a small wave, setting down the paper he had long since stopped reading. It was funny really. Mario remembered how when THAT event started, that very morning Luigi had said to him how boring and peaceful it was. How he wished for something dramatic and shocking to occur. Mario could laugh at the irony of it all. But it was a dark laughter, with no real mirth to it. They say be careful what you wish for, but… Oh, how could any of them have known what was going to happen? The destruction. The suffering. The loss… The true evil behind it all… No. Mario had suspected none of that when Tippi came to him and teleported him to Flipside for the first time. Mario’s life and the many quests he embarked on were never easy, but he could never have been prepared for what and who he would encounter. 

Mr. L. The very name sent shivers down the plumber’s spine. The brainwashed dark manifestation of his dear brother… memories of the masked minion shook Mario to his core. Mario wondered how he could have been so stupid as to not realize the true identity of the man from the start. But Mario also realized he probably didn't want to know the truth, for that would mean his brother was in a serious bit of trouble that Mario could not fix. 

It was a dark time to be sure, and worse even later when they finally went to confront Count Bleck. He should not have let Luigi stay behind to fight that… madman all alone. So when the truth came out and Dimentio seized the Chaos Heart… Mario felt as if he could not breath. The monstrosity that had been created, his brother’s part to play… it was sickening. And to have to fight his own brother even though it wasn't really him, it just, made Mario want to forget. About everything. But it doesn't work that way, does it?


End file.
